11th century Morocco. A Muslim warlord gives his empire of Morocco and Spain to a Christian heir while the lives of four women become woven together. A healer bound by an impossible vow, a free-spirited Berber, a powerful queen and a Christian slave. History, war, love and magic come together in this gripping series which attempts to answer the question of why a Muslim empire would be left to a Christian heir. (Please note paperback copy comes as 1 single volume).
The only comprehensive history of this popular travel destination Beginning with Morocco’s incorporation into the Roman Empire, this book charts the country’s uneasy passage to the 21st century and reflects on the nation of citizens that is emerging from a diverse population of Arabs, Berbers, and Africans. This history of Morocco provides a glimpse of an imperial world, from which only the architectural treasures remain, and a profound insight into the economic, political, and cultural influences that will shape this country’s future.
My thanks go to Professor Harry Norris and Dr Michael Brett of the School of Oriental and African Studies for their wonderful books on Berbers, Tuaregs and this era as well as their helpful information and encouragement. All mistakes are of course mine. Thank you to my brother Ben, whose different way of sensing illness is both fascinating and strange to me. It gave me the inspiration for some of Hela’s skills, although I think he is a great deal wiser. Huge gratitude to the University of Surrey for giving me funding for my PhD in Creative Writing, allowing me freedom and valuable writing time for multiple projects over three years. And especially to Dr Paul Vlitos, who has already improved my writing craft with his knowledge and encouragement. To my beta readers for this book: Camilla, Elisa, Etain and Helen, thank you so much for all your insights and questions as well as your demands for the next book! You make each book better. And always, my thanks to Ryan, who makes all things possible and to Seth and Isabelle for putting up with Mamma having her head in the clouds.
During his 18-year reign as premier of Quebec, Maurice Duplessis dominated the province and shaped it to his image. A brilliant orator and a scathing wit, Duplessis exercised complete control over his caucus and the Cabinet. If he couldn t get a vote, he bought it. Politics was the fuel that drove his life. He died on the job.
Before French conquest, education played an important role in Moroccan society as a means of cultural reproduction and as a form of cultural capital that defined a person's social position. Primarily religious and legal in character, the Moroccan educational system did not pursue European educational ideals. Following the French conquest of Morocco, however, the French established a network of colonial schools for Moroccan Muslims designed to further the agendas of the conquerors. The Moroccan Soul examines the history of the French education system in colonial Morocco, the development of Fren.
Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam chronicles the experiences, identity and achievements of enslaved black people in Morocco from the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. Chouki El Hamel argues that we cannot rely solely on Islamic ideology as the key to explain social relations and particularly the history of black slavery in the Muslim world, for this viewpoint yields an inaccurate historical record of the people, institutions and social practices of slavery in Northwest Africa. El Hamel focuses on black Moroccans' collective experience beginning with their enslavement to serve as the loyal army of the Sultan Isma'il. By the time the Sultan died in 1727, they had become a political force, making and unmaking rulers well into the nineteenth century. The emphasis on the political history of the black army is augmented by a close examination of the continuity of black Moroccan identity through the musical and cultural practices of the Gnawa.
11th century, North Africa. Zaynab is the famous queen consort of Yusuf bin Tashfin, leader of the Moorish Almoravid army, which defeated El Cid, conquering all of North Africa and most of Spain. But her life is full of unanswered questions. She claimed she would marry the man who would rule all of North Africa, but it took four marriages before this prophecy came true. She was Yusuf's right hand, an undisputed beauty and gave him many children, yet Yusuf chose as his heir the son of a Christian slave girl. Some said she spoke with djinns and spirits of the air. Having met her as a child in The Cup and as a formidable rival in A String of Silver Beads, in None Such as She Zaynab has her own story to tell. If you loved The Physician by Noah Gordon and enjoy books by Jane Johnson, Anita Diamant and Libbie Hawker, then the Moorish Empire series is for you. Based on the rise of the Almoravid dynasty, which conquered the whole of North Africa and most of Spain (defeating El Cid), the series explores why a Muslim warlord would give his empire to the son of a Christian slave girl. This is historical fiction at its most dramatic, emotional and intriguing. The sights, sounds, smells and colour of eleventh-century Marrakesh are skilfully evoked...The story arc completes perfectly. Discovering Diamonds In her time there was none such as she - none more beautiful or intelligent or witty ... she was married to Yusuf, who built Marrakech for her. 12th-century text Kitab al-Istibsar Five star reviews from Amazon readersThis time period in Northern Africa in the 11th century comes alive with descriptions of clothing, people, homes, cities & other cultural context showing a way of life.This story is so beautifully written that it takes you along a deeply emotional journey, packed with lies, deceit, ambition, adventure, cruelty, and angst. I cried...The building from scratch of Marrakesh is awesome to see in this very well researched historical novel.Keeps you captivated until the last page.A series which has grown very dear to my heart. Want to watch a book trailer for this title? Just scroll down on the US site, visit my Amazon author page on the UK site or come to my own website which has all my book trailers. Happy viewing! About author Melissa AddeyYou can read about me and my books (and get a free novella) on my website, MelissaAddey.com. I mainly write historical fiction, focusing on the Forbidden City in China's 18th century (now complete) and Morocco in the 11th century (completing soon). Next up, Ancient Rome! I'm in the final year of my Creative Writing PhD and was the 2016 Leverhulme Trust Writer in Residence at the British Library. In 2019 I won the Page to Podcast competition as well as the Novel London award.
The colonial encounter between France and Morocco in the late nineteenth century took place not only in the political realm but also in the realm of medicine. Because the body politic and the physical body are intimately linked, French efforts to colonize Morocco took place in and through the body. Starting from this original premise, Medicine and the Saints traces a history of colonial embodiment in Morocco through a series of medical encounters between the Islamic sultanate of Morocco and the Republic of France from 1877 to 1956. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources in both French and Arabic, Ellen Amster investigates the positivist ambitions of French colonial doctors, sociologists, philologists, and historians; the social history of the encounters and transformations occasioned by French medical interventions; and the ways in which Moroccan nationalists ultimately appropriated a French model of modernity to invent the independent nation-state. Each chapter of the book addresses a different problem in the history of medicine: international espionage and a doctor's murder; disease and revolt in Moroccan cities; a battle for authority between doctors and Muslim midwives; and the search for national identity in the welfare state. This research reveals how Moroccans ingested and digested French science and used it to create a nationalist movement and Islamist politics, and to understand disease and health. In the colonial encounter, the Muslim body became a seat of subjectivity, the place from which individuals contested and redefined the political.
The Berbers' Search for Their Place in Islamic History -- An Unknown Source for the History of the Berbers -- The Myth of the Berbers' origin -- Acculturation and Its Aftermath: The Legacy of the Andalusian Berbers -- Devising an Islamic State -- Rural and Urban Islam in 13th-century Morocco -- Out with Jewish Courtiers, Physicians, Tax Collectors and Minters -- The Fall of the khatīb Abu 'l-Fadl al-Mazdaghī -- Implementing Islamic Institutions -- The Introduction of the Medresas -- Royal Waqf in 14th-century Fez -- The State's Domain: Land and Taxation -- Trade and the Mediterranean World -- Marīnid Fez and the Quest for Global Order -- Conclusion.
North Africa, 1067. Kella travels the trade routes disguised as a boy. When she wins a camel race and is revealed as a girl she is sent home to the family desert camp to be taught women's skills. But Kella yearns for her freedom and when a mighty army sets out on a holy mission, she risks marriage to its general, Yusuf. While Yusuf conquers the whole of North Africa, Kella finds herself a rival to his infamous queen consort, Zaynab, a powerful and jealous woman. Can Kella protect her son as well as herself and can she find freedom as well as love? Second in the Moorish Empire series, this is a new take on a dramatic period of history.
